


I Can't Close My Eyes

by orphan_account



Series: Percabeth One Shots [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Nightmares, on the argo 2, recovering from tartarus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:34:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25407721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Its been two days since Percy and Annabeth returned from Tartarus, and neither one can sleep without vicious nightmares.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Series: Percabeth One Shots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1840204
Kudos: 38





	I Can't Close My Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> I took the liberty onto myself to write a recovering from Tartarus scene since RR decided we didn't need one from him.

Annabeth was curled up in a ball on her bed. It had been two days since she and Percy had made it back from Tartarus. Two days and she still hadn't slept. The first night they had returned, she and Percy had headed to bed early, trying to sleep, and then when everyone had gone to bed, snuck into each other's rooms. But neither of them slept. They stayed up talking in hushed tones the entire night. It was brutal that morning, having to fight a squadron of evil harpies on no sleep. She thought she would have passed out by now, but she hadn't. She didn't know whether to be grateful or not. It was currently 11:15 pm, and she hadn't slept a wink since crawling into bed at 9:00. She was pretty sure Percy hadn't either.  
Annabeth stretched out from the fetal position and stood up. She tiptoed out her door and across the hall. The light from Percy's room shone through the bottom of the door. It was the only room in the hall that did. Annabeth knocked softly on the door and opened it a crack. Percy was lying on his bed, shirtless trying to solve a Rubik's cube. He looked up at her as she opened the door wider and tiptoed in, quietly shutting it behind her.  
"Did you get any farther?" she asked him. He had been working on that Rubik's cube last night too. She wasn't sure where he had gotten it from, but she assumed Coach Hedge had given it to him. She vaguely remembered Grover saying something about Rubik's cubes tasting delicious.  
"Nope," he replied, "Pretty much the same as yesterday. But it's all I've got to do right now."  
She sat on the bed and leaned back, lying next to him. She cuddled closer to him until her head rested in the crook of his neck, and watched him move the sides of the cube around. He eventually gave up and set the cube down on the nightstand, snuggling closer to Annabeth.  
"Why's your room so hot?" she asked.  
"Beats me," Percy replied, "But I'm guessing it has something to do with Leo's room being next to mine. He's like a human hotbox."  
"Does Leo even sleep in his room?"  
Percy considered this. "Good question. Maybe I just have the hottest room because I'm the hottest guy on this boat."  
Annabeth hit him on the chest. "Stop acting like Leo," she scolded, "and besides, we both know the hottest guy on this boat is Frank."  
"True," Percy agreed.  
They cuddled in silence for a minute, enjoying the feeling of being alive and not in immediate danger.  
"So...," Annabeth began, "Are you not wearing a shirt because it's hot, or because you really wanted to tempt me into kissing you?"  
Percy smirked. "Why can't it be both?"  
So Annabeth kissed him.  
For a long time.  
Definitely longer than was necessary.  
They broke apart and moved the bedspread so they lied under the covers. Percy snuggled close to Annabeth and wrapped his arms around her. 

They lay there in comfortable silence for a long time, a couple of hours at least.  
"I can't close my eyes," Annabeth blurted.  
"Me either," Percy whispered back so quietly Annabeth could barely hear him.  
"Every time I do," she continued, "I'm back in that place and we're being attacked, and we're running for our lives, and everything hurts and-"  
"And we leave Bob and Damasen, and we're in the River of Misery again, and we're falling, falling falling." Percy finished.  
"I don't know how we're supposed to recover from this, Percy. It should be enough that we're here and we survived, but it's not. It isn't enough. We already suffered from nightmares, and now we have them from the deepest pits of hell."  
"They aren't even nightmares," Percy muttered, "They're all-the-time-mares."  
This was true, Annabeth thought, memories from Tartarus took up every waking thought when her mind wasn't completely focused on something else. This night was turning into last night, where they didn't sleep a wink but instead stayed up talking and kissing the whole night. Not that taking and kissing were anything Annabeth was opposed to...  
"We need sleep," Percy said into Annabeth's hair.  
"Yeah."  
"But it's not going to happen until our bodies force us to shut down."  
"Yeah," Annabeth agreed.  
There was an abrupt silence when a door in the hallway opened. They stayed deadly silent as whoever it was passed them and made their way into the kitchen. Probably Piper or Leo, getting a late-night snack.  
When Piper or Leo or whoever it was made it back to their room, Annabeth continued the conversation.  
"I can't tell what's worse, me being safe at camp, but you being missing, or us being together but stuck in Tartarus."  
They weren't really equal, Tartarus was much more terrifying by far, but at the time, Percy's disappearance held the same sort of terror Tartarus did.  
"I know," Percy said, "But now we're together, and not in Tartarus."

He kissed her, and she moved her body so she lay on top of him. She put her head over his chest so she could hear his heartbeat. He was alive. They were together. They could make it through this. It might take a long time and countless hours of therapy, but they would make it through this. There would come a time when she could fall asleep without hearing Percy scream as he fought the arai, without hearing the Doors of Death close, with their allies on the other side. There would come a time when she could move on with her life and not be stuck in the same few weeks that were Tartarus. They could do it. They would do it.  
"I love you," Annabeth whispered in the dark.  
"I love you too," she heard back.


End file.
